Blackblade 08.0 - Troubles in the Plains
Raito, Caelan and Ragoom set out in the morning, aiming to reach the Great Temple of Liartia by the afternoon. Indeed, by noontime, they came upon the manicured gardens of the temple. Heading inside, they went straight to the infirmary, where they presented the "ill" Mr. Grey. The attendant took the frog to her coworkers; a doctor returned within a few minutes. While he could confirm that it was a baleful polymorph curse, he, nor any other cleric there, had the strength to remove it. They would need to speak to the archcleric, Father Hammond, who had left days ago with some other clerics to attend to a plague sweeping the southern plains. Frustrated, but still hopeful, they managed to borrow a pair of horses from the church so that they could head to the town of Palermo in the south. Late that night, another note appeared, and Raito stepped away from camp a second time, to secret and unknown ends. The next few days were spent in uneventful travel; the land slowly became flatter and more open as they entered the southern prairies of Asanon. On the fifth day of travel, they entered the bustling town of Palermo, a merchant hub for nearby farmers and nomads, connecting them to northern trade. The group immediately fell to shopping, taking advantage of the abundant supplies. When they went to the church in the afternoon, they found a small group of clerics tending to a large number of ill. When they questioned one of them, he explained that they had arrived with the Father several days earlier and had been treating these plague victims. He spoke about the plague a bit, how it was some strange combination of a disease and a curse, and how those who had succumbed to it in this town had all been nearly cured with a judicious treatment of positive magic. In light of this, the Father had already moved on with an aide to begin treating the more interior village of Stilwell. In the evening, they went to the local AAA. Ragoom began to enjoy a sandwich, while Caelan awkwardly eyed some orcs, the only powerful looking men in the bar. Raito laid eyes on a man eating dinner, who proved to be a Yetoman. Raito joined his kinsman at his table; the man introduced himself as Sachiro Hikamori, a wandering merchant roving the world in the search for rare and interesting animals for his menagerie. Calling Caelan over, Raito attempted to convince him that they should give Wizard to Sachiro, as staying with this man must surely be safer for the little kobold than having him follow them around. They argued a little bit before Caelan resigned the point, and had to bitterly explain to Wizard why he had to leave with the strange man. Upset and unwilling, Wizard was led by Sachiro out of the bar, but not before Raito was given a large sum of money for the transaction. Deciding to follow, Caelan left the AAA. He saw that the man had picked up the struggling Wizard and was carrying him roughly, ignoring the protestations. He turned a corner into an alley. Rushing to catch up, Caelan saw that the man had met with a woman in robes, who was casting a spell. Wizard was in a complete panic, but could not escape Sachiro's grasp. Reacting, Caelan notched an arrow and let it fly at the woman's head. The arrow missed her by a hair, but did not interrupt her concentration; as she completed the spell that teleported her, Sachiro and Wizard away, Caelan managed to see her eerily light-grey eyes. With the three of them gone without a trace, Caelan stormed back to the AAA. Barging in with bastard sword raised, Caelan charged towards Raito, yelling and ignoring the people, tables and chairs in his way. It took the combined efforts of Ragoom and the two visiting orcs to restrain Caelan, though not before he landed several blows to the Yetoman. When he began to regain his presence of mind, Caelan blamed Raito for the loss of Wizard, who was now undoubtedly in the hands of the mysterious "sorta-white-eyed guy". Raito argued that he was just as duped as the rest of them, and the three went to go investigate the alleyway, after Raito paid for the damage dealt to the bar. The alleyway yielded no clues. The ambient magic residue left from the spell marked it as a very powerful teleportation spell, with no trail left as to where the woman had taken them. Caelan continued to blame Raito, and demanded that they try to find where the kobold had been taken. When Caelan mentioned that they knew that there were more of the large enchantments, similar to the one they had met Wizard by, the strange piece of paper that Raito had been seen fiddling with fell out of his pocket. Jumping on it, Caelan looked over the strange small symbols that were drawn. He quickly determined that this, despite Raito's protestations that it was a curse, was in fact a map, a quest granted to him by the spirits. He claimed that it was Raito's destiny to fulfill it, and further, it must be his and Ragoom's destinies to help him. With this new mystery, the weight of the evening's events began to press on them, and they retired to an inn for the night, while Caelan spent his with Kirsikka in the stables. When Raito awoke in the morning, he found a satchel of scrolls with an attached note by his bed. The group spent the morning, and the rest of the day, in relative quiet. They approached the village of Stilwell at dusk on the following day. Walking down a main market street, they found the whole place eerily empty: stalls were abandoned, doors hung open, no lights shone. The horses balked and faltered, nervous of something the people couldn't see. Ragoom dismounted as Caelan became became conscious of a slow, scraping noise. Approaching slowly, he saw a woman walking lethargically, dragging her feet as she entered the street. She appeared painfully wasted and pale, her head hung forward, and she did not respond to any call. As several other people, all lethargic, wasted and pale, shuffled onto the street, Ragoom's horse bolted, leaving its rider stranded. Even more people slowly filtered onto the streets from all sides, causing increasing panic among the three adventurers. As the people began to converge on them, they realized something was terribly wrong. Caelan rushed forward, leading Kirsikka above and around the villagers, trying to spy anywhere where the Father might be. Raito, thrown off of his panicked horse, climbed a stall and managed to make his way onto the relative safety of a roof. Ragoom, calling upon his goddess, channeled pure positive energy into the surrounding villagers. They seemed to tire at the wave of energy; a second blast caused them to slump to the ground. When the cleric inspected a nearby body, he confirmed what they had all suspected: these people were already dead. By the time Caelan looped back to join them, they had learned that the Father was nowhere in sight, that there were hundreds of zombies in the doomed town, and that these creatures appeared to be attracted by sound, not sight. Retreating to the edge of town, Ragoom cast a spell that created a huge blast of noise, causing the undead to come swarming. As quietly as possible, the three snuck around the far edge of town and entered through some alleyways on the other side, while the creatures were distracted. A use of Detect Magic revealed that a strong source of magic was in a cellar in a corner house. The group found that a fallen beam from the adjacent house had sealed the cellar entrance. Working as quickly and quietly as possible, they tied the beam to Kirsikka and hoisted it off. Unfortunately, the noise alerted the zombies. Pulling the door open, they were met with a powerful rush of positive energy. They yelled their intent, and an older man climbed out of the cellar to meet them. Thankful to be found, the archcleric Hammond joined them as they fled from the town before the zombies could overtake them. Well outside of the town, the group camped. In the morning, the archcleric cast the spell necessary to break the frog's curse. What was once an amphibian was a man once again, the elderly yet still gregarious Mr. Grey. He thanked them profusely for saving him. The Father mentioned that this plague must be stopped at its source before it could spread further; both men agreed that it was probably coming from the treacherous Mitsurhym badlands. The Father stated his intention to go back to Palermo to get his other clerics before going to try and halt the spread of the plague, while Mr. Grey said that he would continue on back to Rochester. Both, impressed with the trio's strength, ingenuity and spirit, tasked them with the daunting task of heading into the desert to halt the cursed plague. Category:Banishment of the Blackblades